Artificial turf lifting at the edges: wind, frost, shovels and dogs, and how each gets fixed

01What lifted my turf edge?

Where the edge failed, and when, usually names the cause.

An edge up within days of installation points at the install.

02Can frost push turf nails back up?

Yes, and winter here gives it many chances. The nearest NOAA station in Fort Collins averages 150 nights a year at or below 32°F, and on about 135 of those days the air climbs back above freezing; Longmont 2 ESE averages 177.7 freezing nights (1991–2020 normals). Frost heave needs a fine-grained soil, freezing that reaches into it, and water (Pavement Interactive). How that grips a nail is covered in nails vs staples.

The repair:

• Tap raised heads back flush once the ground has thawed and dried. PolyTurf’s manual tells owners to check for nails “working out” and drive them back, because a protruding nail can hurt people and animals.
• Treat a repeat offender as a water marker. Since frost heave needs water, a nail that rises in the same spot every spring usually sits where water collects in winter. Fix that first.
• Change the detail if it keeps happening: a board or a buried edge (below).

03Why does clay move the edge first?

Because the edge is where the water is. The Colorado Geological Survey says expansive clays can swell up to 20% by volume when wet, and counts planting beside a foundation, where irrigation water soaks in, among the landscaping mistakes on those soils. Turf edges often sit beside the same thing: a drip-watered bed, a downspout, snowmelt off a walk. Our reading: the bed side wets and dries with every watering while the turf side stays drier on its rock base, so the border moves.

Greeley’s water department finds hard clay sometimes just inches down in Greeley, and Longmont tells residents its clay soils absorb water slowly.

To fix it, in order:

1. Move the water. Turn emitters and spray heads away from the edge line and carry downspouts past the turf.
2. Rebuild the base at the edge. Fold the turf back, dig out what has gone soft, refill and compact. PolyTurf wants the ground under turf firm enough not to move, or it makes humps and valleys.
3. Re-fasten into that firm base, or to a board anchored deeper than the old nails reached.

04Can wind lift artificial turf?

Wind needs a way under: a loose edge, an open seam, or a small piece with little holding it. The National Weather Service calls it high wind when sustained winds hold at 40 mph for an hour or winds hit 58 mph for any length of time (NWS). NOAA’s Storm Events database logged 48 High Wind events from 2011 through 2025 in the forecast zone for Larimer County below 6,000 feet and northwest Weld, and 30 in central and southern Weld County, 44 and 26 of them between October and April (NOAA Storm Events). Logged gusts include 84 mph in Loveland in November 2019, 78 mph near Johnstown on December 15, 2021, and 73 mph at Severance on January 16, 2026. Towns very near the mountains also get periodic, severe turbulent winds, the Colorado Climate Center notes.

Between the fasteners, infill does the holding. PolyTurf calls its sand infill “a ballast to hold the turf in place,” SYNLawn says sand at about 1 to 2 pounds per square foot “acts as ballast,” and the Synthetic Turf Council says infill helps keep an installation from moving. And infill can leave: Motz tells owners to hold a leaf blower 12 to 18 inches above turf so the infill stays put, and PolyTurf says a pressure washer displaces it. A windstorm is a bigger blower (our reading, not theirs).

After a big wind:

• Walk the upwind edges and seams and re-fasten any loose flap before the next blow.
• Top up bare spots. Where blade tips stand clear of infill, the ballast is gone; see how often to add infill.
• Fasten small pieces all the way round. A strip between stepping stones or a ring around a tree carries little infill weight in total. See artificial turf between pavers.

05Do snow shovels and dogs pull edges up?

Both work on an edge that stands proud of its neighbor, and a shovel leaving a walk hits the turf edge first. ForeverLawn sets the turf’s backing 3/4 to 1 inch below a sidewalk’s edge, on a board fastened to the concrete, and Sure-loc keeps the top of its edging no more than 1/2 inch above finish grade, which leaves a blade little to hook. On the turf itself use a plastic shovel; SYNLawn says metal tools can damage the fibers.

When an edge along a walk keeps getting caught, reset it lower rather than nailing it harder: fold it back, take the base down, fasten it to a board set below the concrete, and trim so the turf stops a few millimeters short of the walk, as ForeverLawn cuts it.

For dogs, Shaw tells installers to secure the whole perimeter so pets can’t pull turf up; a digger needs more, covered in can dogs dig through artificial turf.

06Why does a turf edge curl up by itself?

Usually because it remembers the roll, or was never stretched. Shaw’s guidelines have turf rolled out the day before so it can relax, and plan on about 18 inches of waste because turf nearest the core of the roll may be badly wrinkled. Integriturf leaves turf in direct sun for a few hours so the backing relaxes and flattens. An edge cut from the core end, or fastened before it relaxed, can keep trying to roll.

• Recent curl: on a warm afternoon, pull the fasteners, let the edge lie in the sun, stretch it lightly toward the border and re-fasten.
• Old curl: Synthetic Grass Warehouse warns that once turf has been down more than 3 months, pulling a wrinkle out may do more damage, and suggests adding ballast or cutting it out. At an edge, that means trimming the curl off or setting in a new strip.
• Turf cut long: Integriturf trims cleanly along the border to avoid “long over lap.” An edge riding up onto a curb or board needs trimming, not more nails.

07How is a lifted edge re-secured?

1. Brush the infill out of the edge to reach the fasteners, as Synthetic Grass Warehouse’s installer column does.
2. Pull the old fasteners gently. The same column warns that nails and staples rust-bond to the base, and pulling them carelessly tears fibers out of the backing and leaves divots.
3. Fix what moved: the water, and the base under the edge.
4. Stretch lightly and trim so the turf meets its border without a gap or an overlap.
5. Fasten it one of three ways:
   • Nails into fresh, firm base. Shaw suggests nails every 4 to 8 inches along a lawn’s perimeter where there is no edging, “to prevent the edges from lifting.”
   • A board. PolyTurf fastens turf to a plastic-lumber edging board to prevent “creep (rippling) or curling,” and uses screws so the turf can be tightened later.
   • A buried edge. Shaw digs a narrow trench along the border, tucks the turf in, nails it, backfills and compacts, then hides the edge under mulch or rock.
6. Brush the infill back in to the same depth as the turf around it.

A torn edge needs a patch (PolyTurf advises keeping your installation scraps for it). If edges lift all round on worn turf, weigh repairing or replacing it. New turf: see installation and pet turf.

In Firestone. Not legal advice. Firestone’s maintenance standard says turf areas shall not contain “uplifted surfaces,” and damaged areas must be repaired or replaced to match the existing turf (Firestone Development Code 16.6.4). Whether one lifted edge breaks that rule depends on how the town reads it, so ask Firestone Planning. The rest of the standard is in our turf spec sheet guide.